Wrestlers get a handle on zones

Houston wrestler Allan Davidson gets the upper hand on a rival Feb 11 at the Northwest zones competition in Smithers.

Members of the Houston Wrestling got a hold of some hardware at the Northwest Zone wrestling competition in Smithers last weekend.

In its first year, Houston Wrestling is a joint program with 10 wrestlers between Houston Secondary School and Houston Christian School.

The fledgling team is already a force to be reckoned with.

Houston’s Trent Siemens landed solid finishes all day on Saturday and clinched a first-place victory in the 74-kilogram weight division.

Siemens said wrestling is all about agility and gripping your opponent before he gets you.

“In our first tournament everyone medaled except one, and in our second tournament three of us medaled so were all pretty much the same,” Siemens said.

“I think there have been opportunities where we could have done better. We’re hoping to win zones but we’ll see if that happens. Getting a first year team winning a banner would be pretty sweet.”

Wrestlers from Smithers Secondary, Charles Hays, and the Houston schools were all on hand for the event.

Although Houston Wrestling didn’t win zones overall, they still have a couple of athletes committed to provincials.

Head coach Randy Chapman said he is very pleased with the team’s performance so far and hopes to see it continue.

“It’s going sweet. We missed a few tournaments otherwise we’d have a lot more medals,” said Chapman. “But they are placing in the top five every time, I like that, and now they’re hopefully going to win zones and then it’s off to provincials to play with the big boys.”